Ilina Apollinariia
2022
Apollinariia Ilina (*1990) is a visual artist, photographer and cinematographer. She was
born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia and currently lives and works in Moscow. She
was educated as a Cinematographer and has master's degree in Art History. Her interest in
the visual arts began at an early age and she tried her hand at painting, sculpture, fabric
drawing, collaging, and analog photography. Apollinariia works in film production and shot
the several short films as director of photography.
Artist's art works have been exhibited in Arles, Paris, Rome and Moscow. In 2022 she
became one of winners of the ProfiFoto New Talent Award 22/2.
Apollinariia explores in her works the psychology of perception in the context of working
with the subconscious and dialogue with it. The fixation of dialogue as an individual's
internal reflection constitutes the body of her art.
Special Project
Apollinariia explores in her works the psychology of perception in the context of
working with the subconscious and dialogue with it. The fixation of dialogue as
an individual's internal reflection constitutes the body of her art. Having studied
the history of art for many years, working as a cinematographer in cinema,
Apollinariia came to the problems of perception psychology in her research.
Perception in art means a complex relationship between visual stimuli embedded
in a cultural and historical context and their personal understanding of the
individual.
The artist builds her work on projects on observation and communication with
people. Then Apollinariia refines the experience into a dialogue of the external
and internal Self. The duality of perceptions, the desire to always see the other
person's point of view encourages her to work with mirrors and reflective
surfaces, interpreting the ideas of reality distortion. Dialogue always has different
interpretations, as well as the mirror always reflects and refracts distorting reality.
In her projects, she turns to working with borderline states, processing memory
and sensations in reality and imagination. For the last year, the artist has been
working on the problems of adapting the creation to a changing world. She talks
to the socio-political problems of the artist inside the system destroying the
physical and moral foundations. Artist explores how the body and soul react to
fear and how a dialogue and a clash of the external and internal in a person takes
place.
Conversation.
Photography, project consist of 6 photographs
2023
Interpreting conversation as a form of social communication goes beyond verbal expression
to encompass the emotional aspects. While the dictionary defines conversation primarily as
speech communication, considering it from the perspectives of visual and emotional cues
becomes crucial because words don't always effectively convey thoughts or feelings.
Language can create distortions, as facial expressions and gestures are interpreted differently
across various cultural, national, and social groups.
By synthesizing these factors, we gain a deeper understanding of others. Thoughts conveyed
by an interlocutor often reflect in our consciousness and undergo modifications. Each idea
and word is influenced by our own character, emotional state, and understanding of
language. We strive to reflect reality, albeit sometimes distorted or incomplete, as we can
never fully grasp the entirety of another person's world with their unique experiences and
fears.
This project originated during the 2023 ecoSuites art residency at Tristinika Beach, Greece.
Through observing people of different nationalities and their modes of communication, we
gain insights into the differences in our national and cultural identities. Friendships and
creative alliances are forged more through emotional empathy rather than mere analysis.
The proximity of a shared cultural and linguistic background does not guarantee closeness
among individuals or their interest in one another. I aim to address all these challenges in my
project.
